Hi all. I want to dig out three large well established grass type bushes from my garden but am not very strong and am struggling. Please can anyone give me some advice on the best or easiest way to dig them out? The bases are about two foot wide and im getting nowhere fast. Thankyou

23 May, 2011

Answers

i think either paysomeonea few bob to do it or cut or burn them to the floor . then get an old bread knife and saw threw a piece you think you can manage . an oldaxe mite help to . the other option is to offer them to someone who wants them and put buyer digs them up perhaps .

I hope you're doing it with a proper garden fork, not a border fork or something smaller, and that you don't live in the south or somewhere still in drought. If the ground is dry and hard, soak it well by leaving the hose running around the grasses, or using a sprinkler for a good 2 hours or more overnight. Then just go round the outside of each clump with your (full sized) garden fork, levering the soil as you go (preferably without breaking the shaft of your fork), working inwards and under the clump as you go. If they don't start shifting then, you'll need a spade - excavate around the edges so you can see where the main root clumps are, then go back into what is now a trench and use the fork again, going inwards and under and levering. They'll come out with this method.

If you can't manage it using Bamboo's method you'll need to pay someone to do it for you. Do you have any neighbours with good strong teenagers who you could supervise to do it? It's not the sort of job you need a whole lot of qualifications for.